The Shallows barely made me flinch.
Starring Blake Lively, the film is centred around medical student Nancy Adams as she tries to survive an attack by a shark while she is surfing more than 200 yards away from the shore. Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, the man behind Orphan and Non-Stop, the film survived a change in director and filming location before initial photography began in October of 2015. The film was said to be a challenge to everyone involved, with Lively saying she was inspired to take the job after hearing her husband Ryan Reynolds' describe his experience from the set of the similarly close-quarters movie "Buried".
In truth, Lively is probably this film's brightest spot. Admittedly her line delivery isn't world-class, but as I will get into later, this isn't really her fault. What the Gossip Girl alumni does do well however lies in her physical acting and her reaction to situations. Her cries of pain are spine-tinglingly realistic and her looks of panic are very much grounded in reality. It is very clear to me that this is an actress trying to break-out from the perception that many have of her, even after a decent outing in The Age of Adaline. The film overall did not impress me, but Blake Lively certainly did. The other positive thing that I can say about this movie is that technically it didn't do much wrong, and it did make some very interesting choices on a visual level, such as the frequently shifting of the camera above and below the water to create tension.
Yet, to paraphrase President Obama, putting lipstick on a pig doesn't change the fact that it is a pig. The writing here is absolutely awful, particularly the dialogue, which I genuinely don't think the love-child of Meryl Streep and James Woods could make sound even half-decent. The story also tries to cram in sub-plots surrounding Nancy's medical career and her mother's death at the hands of cancer. To be quite frank, these bits of background knowledge did nothing but clutter what was at heart a very simple survival story. From an aesthetic standpoint, the filmmakers decided to include a very weird graphic whenever our lead was on her phone, giving The Shallows a very tacky, B-movie feel right from the off. If this wasn't enough, the size of the Great White seemed to change at the drop of a hat whilst being composed entirely of CGI, resulting in it looking about as real as Chloe Khan's face (this also goes for the dolphin and jelly-fish that show up throughout the film also). The score too was very on the nose and did nothing to help the final product in any way, shape or form. But let me just go back to the point I made right at the start of this review: The Shallows is not scary. I have a massive fear of sharks and the ocean, I should have been soiling my seat watching this film. Instead, I was bored, more interested in the drama developing on the twenty-something man sitting in front of myself's group chat than what was actually on the screen. As both a horror and even as a survival film, The Shallows fails miserably.
Overall, The Shallows was 86 minutes of my life which felt more like 86 days in solitary confinement. Seriously, I'd probably rather watch all the Lord of the Rings extended cuts all the way through with no pee-break than watch this again. Visually it is decent and Blake Lively gives it her all, but there is so much inherently wrong with this production from the ground up that I failed to get much enjoyment out of this film.
If you hadn't already guessed, I would not recommend The Shallows.
Score: 4.4/10
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